Lakes Mall Hopes `Mainstreet` Theme Will Lure Shoppers

LAUDERDALE LAKES -- Peter Kallas remembers when customers lined up at the door to buy bread and fancy pastries from his bakery in the Lakes Mall.

``This used to be one of the busiest bakeries in Fort Lauderdale,`` he said, proudly inspecting a showcase filled with cupcakes, pastries and bread.

``Not anymore. Now we`re at the bottom.``

Other businesses at the mall have similar problems.

The mall doesn`t lure as many customers anymore, despite its prime location near State Road 7 and Oakland Park Boulevard, one of the 10 busiest traffic intersections in Florida.

But mall manager Dan Eschman said he believes brighter days are just around the corner, thanks to a new gimmick that will capitalize on existing Mom and Pop businesses like the bakery and a few new businesses.

``Everybody`s gotta have a gimmick. Our`s is going to be `Return to Mainstreet,` `` Eschman said. ``We`re all very confident it will work. It worked well for our sister mall in West Palm Beach.``

Eschman has been working with Ross Simmons, a professional promotor, for the last nine months. Simmons also has spearheaded creative promotions for Cross County Mall, the West Palm Beach mall that was in a slump for nearly seven years before making a comeback last year.

Many of the businesses in Lakes Mall are owned by individuals instead of major chains. Eschman said some of the 10 empty stores in the 72-shop mall will be donated to community organizations.

``The key is getting the whole family out to the mall,`` Simmons said. ``We`re also looking for public awareness programs, and non-profit organizations that want to do fundraisers.``

Eschman said he is ready to sign leases with five new tenants, including two major warehouse-type retailers that will anchor the 37-acre mall.

Although Eschman wouldn`t name the new businesses, he said one retailer plans to move next to Builder`s Square on the mall`s south end. Another warehouse retailer is expected to lease the old Britt`s store, anchoring the north end of the mall.

Eschman said the north-end tenant believes he will generate more traffic than the mall`s 2,500 parking spaces can accommodate. That`s just what Lakes Mall needs to boost its other businesses, Eschman said.

Fourteen years ago, when the mall first opened, there wasn`t much shopping west of State Road 7. ``We were the only game in town,`` Eschman said.

Now the mall must compete with strip shopping centers and larger malls with major chain stores that have been built with the county`s westward expansion.

Eschman said 17 new shopping centers have been built within a five-mile radius of the mall in the last year.

``Competition has made it tough for everybody,`` he said. ``We`re all fighting for the same slice of the pie.``

A learning center for college courses and a store filled with health information brochures are on the plan list for the mall.

A long list of entertainment options also is in the works, including a haunted house for Halloween and a beauty pageant held Saturday.

``No matter what`s in the store, filling it up is a psychological factor,`` Simmons said.

``The next six to eight months will be pivotal,`` Eschman said.

Peter Kallas believes his business, and the mall, will be back.

``Quite a few stores have been here from the beginning, like me,`` Kallas said. ``I know they`re trying. If they get two major department stores, the mall will come back.``